Production Note: The creation of all of the examples below can be achieved through the collaboration of the Online Education Initiative. For other productions, Duke Media Services offers many of these services to the general community.

Expert Interview Recorded In Studio

What are the benefits and challenges of this type of video?
This type of video provides a high-quality, professional recording of conversations with important individuals on key topics. The surroundings are controlled, so the audio, lighting, and the editing are good by definition. Depending on how the interview is structured, excerpts or segments may be used in more than one course in a variety of ways. There may be challenges getting the expert you would like to interview to the studio, if they are not local to you. Also, there will be a cost associated with hiring the professionals, unless you have free access to such staff from your department/school.

How was this created?
As the name implies, this video was created in a recording studio (at Duke Media Services), with the help of professional videographers. This was a three-camera shoot, with one camera recording a wide view (showing both participants), and one recording close-up on the faces of each participant. The participants prepared an outline of topics and questions and did not use a teleprompter. (However, if they had chosen to do so, they would have needed to create a finished text file with the script they planned to use, to be loaded onto the prompter before the recording started). The participants talked until they completed the interview satisfactorily; if any question or answer was not well-spoken, the participants paused briefly and then re-started that question or answer.

The shoot used “live camera switching” to capture footage from individual cameras as selected on-the-fly during the live session, by a videographer working in a control room. This technique reduces post-production editing, but increases the cost of shooting because an additional staff member is needed to handle the switching. (An alternative technique would be to record the full interview on each camera, and then edit together segments as needed, post-production.) Once the recording was done, titling was added and additional minor editing was done to create the final file. The participants reviewed this version to confirm it was satisfactory.

How much did this cost?
The 15-minute video from which this 30-second clip is extracted was one of several videos recorded during a one-hour studio session. The studio session cost approximately $610 to shoot and edit; therefore, on average, this video example was $11/minute to shoot and edit.

For this interview, the expert was local at Duke and did not require any travel costs to the studio, nor did he request any honorarium for his time.

Expert Interview Recorded On-Site

Innovation and Design for Global Grand Challenges
Dr. Alex Deghan, Senior Visiting Fellow in the Office of the President at Duke
University

What are the benefits and challenges of this type of video?
The benefit of recording these conversations on-site rather than bringing the expert into a live face-to-face class includes cost savings (saving the expert’s travel costs), and the ability to record on the expert’s schedule at their location. The participants also have the opportunity to highlight objects, equipment, or other features at the site that cannot be taken into a studio setting. On-site recordings may not be as controlled as recordings done in a studio, but the use of a professional crew can mitigate any issues with audio and lighting and create a high-quality, professional recording.

How was this created?
This example was recorded at the Duke Lemur Center using two camcorders and a lavalier microphone for each speaker. A simple light kit was used to ensure good lighting on the speakers. The video was recorded straight through, with the speakers re-starting any questions or answer which they didn’t like. Video editing after the shoot cut out any mistakes and created a final video file (which the speakers reviewed one or more times, until it was satisfactory)

How much did this cost?
This 30-second clip was extracted from a 20-minute-long video. An on-site interview similar to this one, shot and edited by a professional crew, would cost approximately $300.